Vân Đồn International Airport at night.

HÀ NỘI — Vân Đồn International Airport was honoured as the World's Leading New Airport 2019 at the award ceremony of the 26th World Travel Awards (WTA) in Muscat, Oman on Thursday.

Vân Đồn Airport, located in the northern province of Quảng Ninh, passed seven ‘rivals’ from around the world to win the award.

Vân Đồn Airport beat rivals at the 'Oscars of the world tourism industry', including the US’s Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, UK's Carlisle Lake District Airport, Spain's Corvera Murcia Airport, Israel's Eilat Ramon Airport, India's Pakyong International Airport, Singapore's Seletar Airport and Indonesia's Yogyakarta Adisucipto International Airport.

The category 'World's Leading New Airport' was first awarded by WTA last year, with the victory belonging to Muscat International Airport, Oman. This category is awarded based on rigorous evaluation criteria for the overall design of the airport, service quality and passenger satisfaction, and the customer experience through the application of new technologies.

A corner of Vân Đồn Airport, which has impressive architecture inspired by the beauty of the world natural heritage site – Hạ Long Bay.

Vân Đồn Airport satisfies these criteria to deserve the award with impressive architecture, inspired by the beauty of the world natural heritage site – Hạ Long Bay.

The building is imbued with indigenous culture, with a bright orange-red dome resembling windless sails stacked towards the ocean. Materials such as wood, steel, glass, stone, water and trees are used flexibly in all architectural and interior details, creating a close space, in harmony with nature.

Vân Đồn Airport always complies with the strict standards of service, to ensure maximum satisfaction for passengers as well as meeting the strict criteria of the airlines. The airport has signed a quality commitment with the airlines to support its partners' activities.

Vân Đồn Airport is honoured with the WTA award for its quality service at the airport and passenger satisfaction. — Photos courtesy of Sun Group

Sun Group, the airport investor, has equipped the airport with modern equipment and technology imported from the world's leading brands, optimising utilities and increasing experience for passengers.

Director of Vân Đồn International Airport Phạm Ngọc Sáu said that this award helped Vân Đồn Airport put its name on the world aviation map.

"It is also pride and motivation for us to continue improving the quality of service, giving customers the best experience," Sáu said.

According to the latest figures, as of November 22, there have been nearly 1,800 flights landing at Vân Đồn Airport, including 117 international flights. The total number of passengers using the airport reached nearly 235,000, of which nearly 10,000 were international visitors.

Besides existing international routes from Vân Đồn to Shenzhen, Hunan, Shanghai of China and Seoul of South Korea, there will be more from Hainan, Nanning and Guangzhou of China, Japan, Bangkok of Thailand to Vân Đồn.

In addition, the network of domestic flights will continue to expand to Phú Quốc in the future, bringing the total to three destinations including HCM City and Đà Nẵng. — VNS